đỡ

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 助 (“to help”, SV: trợ).

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɗəː˦ˀ˥]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɗəː˧˨]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʔɗəː˨˩˦]

đỡ • (拖, 𠰹, 㐌, 𲏸, 𲓈)

1. to raise (someone) from a fall; to lift up
2. to prop; to support
3. to take in one's hands (what is offered, given); to help down with some load
4. to parry; to ward off
5. (colloquial) to help; to give a hand
6. to reduce (a negative emotion or situation); to relieve
   • 1957, Đoàn Giỏi, chapter 8, in Đất rừng phương Nam, Kim Đồng:

     Không có một tiếng vạc sành kêu cho đỡ buồn.

     Not one cricket chirped to reduce the sadness.

7. to get better (after falling sick); to recover

   Em đỡ chưa? ― Feeling better? / Recovered yet?

8. short for đỡ đẻ (“to deliver (a woman in childbirth)”)

đỡ

1. (Southern Vietnam) temporarily (in the absence of a better method); as a makeshift